Press release No. 027 of 20 January 2021
Producer prices of industrial products (domestic market), December 2020
+0.8% on the previous month
+0.2% on the same month a year earlier
–1.0% on an annual average in 2020 compared to 2019
WIESBADEN – In December 2020, the index of producer prices for industrial products increased by 0.2% compared with the corresponding month of the preceding year. In November the annual rate of change all over had been –0.5%, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with the preceding month November the overall index increased by 0.8% in December 2020 (+0.2% in November).
Substantial increase in prices of metals, animal feeds and building materials
Prices of intermediate goods increased by 0.8% compared to December 2019. Prices increased especially regarding precious metals (+18.4%), metallic secondary raw material (+17.0%) and copper (+11.5%). Prices of prepared feeds for farm animals were up 8.7%, prices of construction gravel and natural sands 5.9%. By contrast, prices of paper and paperboard decreased by 3.7% compared to December 2019. Prices of basic chemicals were down 4.0%. Prices of basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys fell by 0.8% but increased by 1.7 compared to November 2020.
Prices of durable consumer goods increased by 1.6% compared to December 2019, capital goods by 0.9%.
Energy prices as a whole decreased by 0.1% compared to December 2019 but increased by 2.3% compared to November 2020. On an annual basis, prices of petroleum products were down 13.5% and prices of natural gas (distribution) decreased by 3.3%. By contrast electricity prices increased by 5.9%.
The overall index disregarding energy was 0.3% up on December 2019.
Energy prices: down 13.5% for mineral oil products, up 5.9% for electricity
Prices of non-durable consumer goods decreased by 1.8% compared to December 2019. Food prices decreased by 3.3%. After pork prices had reached their peak in December 2019 due to increasing demand from China, pork prices decreased subsequently by 31.7% until December 2020. The reason is probably not only the lack of demand from the food service industry and the closure of slaughterhouses because of the Corona pandemic but also the Asian ban on imports for German pork meat starting in September 2020. Prices of butter decreased by 1.5%. By contrast, the price of sugar increased by 13.9% compared to December 2019. Prices of coffee rose by 3.9%.
| Year / month | 2015 = 100 | Change in % compared with | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| corresponding month of preceding year | preceding month | |||
| 2019 | December | 104.5 | -0.2 | 0.1 |
2020 | January | 105.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| February | 104.9 | -0.1 | -0.4 | |
| March | 104.1 | -0.8 | -0.8 | |
| April | 103.4 | -1.9 | -0.7 | |
| May | 103.0 | -2.2 | -0.4 | |
| June | 103.0 | -1.8 | 0.0 | |
| July | 103.2 | -1.7 | 0.2 | |
| August | 103.2 | -1.2 | 0.0 | |
| September | 103.6 | -1.0 | 0.4 | |
| October | 103.7 | -0.7 | 0.1 | |
| November | 103.9 | -0.5 | 0.2 | |
| December | 104.7 | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
| thereof: | ||||
| Intermediate goods | 104.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | |
| Capital goods | 105.8 | 0.9 | 0.1 | |
| Durable consumer goods | 107.4 | 1.6 | 0.1 | |
| Non-durable consumer goods | 106.3 | -1.8 | -0.2 | |
| Energy | 102.5 | -0.1 | 2.3 | |
Results on the annual average of 2020
In 2020, the development of natural gas prices (distribution) had the greatest impact on the development of the annual average of domestic producer prices due to the high rate of change in combination with their high weighting factor. They were 10.0% down on the annual average of 2019. Prices of petroleum products fell by 14.5%. Prices of electricity rose by 0.8%. Energy prices as a whole were 4.0% down compared to 2019.
Disregarding energy, producer prices remained unchanged compared to 2019 (+0.8% in 2019 compared to 2018).
Prices of intermediate products decreased by 1.5% compared to 2019 (-0.3% in 2019 compared to 2018). The price decrease of basic iron, steel and ferro-alloys by 7.6% had the greatest impact on that development. Prices of secondary raw materials fell by 10.4%. By contrast, prices of construction gravel and natural sands were up 5.6% and prices of precious metals rose by 22.0%.
Prices of non-durable consumer goods increased by 1.2%, food prices were up 1.3%. Whereas prices of sugar rose by 16.9% and prices of tobacco by 4.2%, prices of butter decreased by 11.3%.
Prices of durable consumer goods increased by 1.5% compared to 2019, capital goods by 1.1%.
Crisis Monitor allows comparison between corona crisis and and financial and economic crisis
The Producer price index for industrial products is also part of the "Crises monitor", which is used by the Federal Statistical Office to compare the development of major short-term indicators between the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The “Crisis Monitor” complements the "Corona statistics" webpage, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
More detailed data and long time series are available in table Producer price indices for industrial products (61241-0006) in the GENESIS-Online database.
